Gombert, Nicolas

Gombert, Nicolas, important Flemish composer;b. southern Flanders, possibly between Lille and St. Omer, c. 1495; d. c. 1560. He was one of the most eminent pupils of Josquin des Prez, on whose death he composed a funeral dirge. The details of his early life are obscure and uncertain. The physician Jerome Cardan reported that Gombert violated a boy and was sentenced to the galleys on the high seas. He is first positively accounted for in 1526, when his name ap-pears on the list of singers at the court chapel of Charles V that was issued at Granada in that year; the restless Emperor traveled continually throughout his extensive domain—Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands—and his retinue was obliged to follow him in his round of his courts at Vienna, Madrid, and Brussels; Gombert prob-ably was taken into the service of the Emperor on one of the latter’s visits to Brussels. He is first mentioned as “maistre des enffans de la chapelle de nostre sr empereur” (“master of the boys of the royal chapel”) in a court document dated Jan. 1, 1529; he remained in the Emperor’s employ until 1538-0, during which time he took an active part in the various functions of the court, composing assiduously. After his retirement from his post in the royal chapel, he seems to have returned to his native Netherlands (Tournai), and there continued to compose until his death. He held a canonship at Notre Dame, Courtrai, from June 23, 1537, without having to take up residence there, and was also a canon at the Cathedral of Tournai from June 19, 1534. Despite his many trips abroad and the natural influence of the music of other countries, Gombert remained, stylistically, a Netherlander. The chief feature of his sacred works is his use of imitation, a principle which he developed to a high state of perfection. The parts are always in motion, and pauses appear infrequently; when they do occur, they are very short. In his handling of dissonance he may be regarded as a forerunner of Palestrina. His secular works, of which the earliest known printed examples (9 4-part chansons) are included in Attaignant’s collection of 1529-9, are characterized by a refreshing simplicity and directness. Gombert’s greatest contributions to the development of 16th-century music lay in his recognizing the peculiari-ties of Netherlandish polyphony and his developing and spreading it abroad. His extant works include 10 masses, over 160 motets, and 70 chansons, many of which appeared in contemporary (mostly Spanish) lute and guitar arrangements, a fact which shows the great vogue they had. Gombert’s Opera omnia, ed. by J. Schmidt-Gorg, was publ. in Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, VI/1-11 (1951-75).

Bibliography

H. Eppstein, N. G. als Motettenkomponist (Wiirzburg, 1935); J. Schmidt-Gorg, N. G., Kapellmeister Karls V: Leben und Werk (Bonn, 1938).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire